Afflicted

by Susanne Valenti

  "Nine one one, what is the nature of your emergency?" a man asked.

  "I think I've just seen one of those violent people they're talking about on the news," I said, careful to keep my voice low so as not to wake Lacey or Reese.

  "Okay ma'am, are you in a secure place? Is the individual trying to attack you or anyone else as we speak?" he asked.

  "No, I saw him from my window and he didn't see me. I'm not sure he was one of those people but they said on the news it was better to be safe than sorry-"

  "Okay ma'am, the Monitor is going to take over from here. The system has tracked your cellphone and will use local CCTV to track the suspect and call reinforcements if necessary. Please stay indoors and try not to panic. You will receive a text alert when the situation has been resolved."

  "Oh, okay tha-

  The line went dead and I stared at my cellphone in surprise. I had full bars so there was no doubt that the operator had hung up on me. I'd never needed to call nine one one before but I'd always thought that if I did I'd find it more reassuring.

  I crept back into my bedroom and pulled the curtain aside to peek out again.

  The street was empty and I let the curtain fall back into place as a shiver ran down my spine.

  "Wass goon on?" Lacey mumbled as she rolled over and spotted me.

  "There was a guy out there acting kinda creepy," I said as I moved back to the bed. "I called nine one one in case it's one of the people affected by the water."

  "Really?" Lacey jumped up and ran to the window to have a look out.

  "He's moved on. Probably long gone by now," I said as I tried to settle back in bed.

  "So he's definitely not that weirdo who's staring up at me and waving a knife above his head then?"

  I jumped out of bed and ran to the window with my heart pounding. I scanned the view twice before Lacey burst out laughing.

  "Bitch," I said, letting out a shaky laugh.

  I couldn't help checking the view one more time before I stepped away from the window.

  "It's nearly half five," Lacey said as she checked her cellphone.

  "Not a time of day I'm used to seeing," I commented. Not that I felt like I'd be able to get back to sleep again any time soon.

  "Why don't we take advantage of our early start and head into the city now?" Lacey suggested. "We could miss the worst of the morning rush and then be done early enough to miss the evening rush on the way back."

  "That sounds like a good idea," I said slowly.

  "I can hear a but..."

  "But what about the creepy guy out there?"

  "L’ets just start getting ready and hope the Monitor updates you about him before we have to leave."

  "Okay," I agreed as I started to head for the shower.

  I cursed as I remembered the water was probably still out but moved into the bathroom to check it anyway. I twisted the taps but nothing happened. With a resigned sigh, I used bottled water to brush my teeth and have a quick wash.

  I found Lacey rooting through my wardrobe when I returned to my room. She pulled out an orange shirt and waved it at me with a grin.

  "You mind?" she asked, ignoring the fact that she'd already snooped through my clothes without asking.

  "You don't usually ask," I laughed.

  She grinned at me and headed into the bathroom. My cellphone buzzed on my bedside table and I grabbed it to find a text from the Monitor.

  Monitor 05:41 - Suspect apprehended at 05:39. Thank you for your assistance in this case.

  "They got that guy!" I called.

  "Great! I just thought of something that would make our trip even better too," Lacey said as she came back into the room. She was dressed in her jeans and my shirt which looked amazing with her dark skin.

  "You know I hate you right now right?" I joked.

  "Huh?"

  "That shirt looks a million times better on you than it ever has on me."

  "Well that would probably go for most of your clothes," Lacey laughed. "But seriously, we should go to your dad's apartment when we get to the city."

  "Really? They'll be back here later anyway-"

  "I'm not talking about a social call. The city purifies all its own water doesn't it? We can have showers!"

  "I'm so stupid, why didn't I think of that? We should get going now." I quickly sent a text to my dad to make sure that they didn't leave before we got there but didn't wait for a reply as it was so early.

  I hurried to put some makeup on and make my hair look half way styled. Lacey leant over my shoulder at my dressing table and did her makeup at the same time. As soon as we were presentable, I threw on a pair of ripped jeans and a green shirt and we made our way downstairs.

  Snoring drew my attention to the front room and I peered around the door to find Reese and Jason asleep on the two couches with the games console on standby in the background. I found the remote and flicked the TV off before heading out the door.

  "I haven't been into Harbour City since they got rid of the trains within The Wall," Lacey said as we started to walk down the street. It was twelve blocks to the cable car station which was now the only entrance to the city on the south side.

  "Yeah Mom said it's almost finished. They've been building like crazy and are getting ready for a test run soon. I think my mom and dad might end up being part of it and they want us to go too but I don't want to be stuck in there for two weeks."

  "It's so weird to think that they could just close the whole place off from the outside world and live in there indefinitely," Lacey said. "I hope the situation never gets that bad."

  I nodded my agreement and upped my pace a little. It was horrible living under the constant fear of an attack. Any time we made plans to go somewhere that could be crowded, we had to consider the threat level. No stranger could ever be looked at openly, everyone was treated with suspicion. It made me sad that that was what the world had become.

  As we got nearer to the city, more people started to appear heading towards it too. Even though it was so early, the commuters were already on their way in.

  We headed up a steep hill until it eventually flattened out and Harbour City was revealed. The cable car landing zone was closer to us with a huge entryway blocking the road ahead. As we made it to the entrance, we were surrounded by people who rushed forward and separated into different lanes, knowing exactly where they were headed.

  A guard noticed our hesitation and beckoned us over to a ticket kiosk.

  "Visitors day passes?" he asked as he hit a few buttons on a ticket machine for us.

  "Yes please," I said.

  "Have you visited since the new security measures were put in place?"

  I glanced at Lacey questioningly but she gave me a blank look.

  "I've had the retinal and fingerprint scans done before," I replied, unsure if there had been any more upgrades.

  "That's the one, you'll be on the systems then. Could you just use the scanners and your day pass will be issued." He pointed to the side of the ticket machine where a retinal and hand scanner were waiting for me.

  "Oh yeah I did all that before too," Lacey said as she followed me.

  "That's good. They're limiting the amount of new registrations we can do daily in the lead up to the tests," the guard said.

  "So they don't want new people coming into the city?" I asked as I leant into the scanner and a red light blinded me momentarily.

  "Enjoy your visit to Harbour City Miss Lewis," a mechanical female voice said as a plastic card rattled out of the shoot at the bottom of the ticket machine.

  “Not too many,” the guard confirmed. “But they'll be looking to get everyone registered at some point… just in case,” he said ominously.

  I grabbed the day pass and inspected the slightly outdated photo of me which was printed beside a barcode and today's date.

  Lacey collected her pass too and I thanked the guard before joining the queue for the cable cars. We trailed back and forth between metal dividers until we rea
ched the end of a fairly short line of people who were waiting to get into the city.

  I turned away from the queue to inspect the view of the city beyond it. We were still about half a mile away from The Wall but no one was allowed to get any closer to it. The ground between us and the towering sandy Wall had been cleared of all trees and buildings but a lush green meadow peppered with wild flowers filled the space.

  The Wall itself was almost beyond comprehension. It seemed to reach up endlessly, dominating the landscape for miles in each direction. It looked almost alien beside the flowering landscape that surrounded it and no matter how many times I saw the city, I couldn't quite shift the feeling that it was unnatural.

  Above The Wall, skyscrapers towered even further up towards the heavens. They glistened as the rising sun started to hit the glass and metal which they were built of.

  "I can't wait to have a shower," Lacey said excitedly. "How much longer do you think the water will be out?"

  "I dunno but I may have to start visiting the city more often if it's not back on soon."

  The queue moved forward as a cable car filled up and we were suddenly at the front. Another guard, dressed in a slick grey uniform dropped a barrier in front of us to make us wait for the next car.

  "Just a few minutes ladies," he said with a smile. He had an open face and friendly voice and seemed to be enjoying his job.

  "Looks like you've got new uniforms?" I asked him as we waited.

  "They've just separated the city police from the rest of the state and wanted to give us new titles and a uniform to go with it to mark us out," he said proudly.

  "So what are you called now then?" Lacey asked.

  "Wardens," he replied. "And it wasn't easy to get through the selection process either."

  "Congratulations." I smiled as he lifted the barrier again and directed us towards the platform.

  “Thank you,” he replied proudly as he directed us past him.

  Four more Wardens stood along the platform and ushered us towards a slow moving cable car which had just emptied out on the other side of a barrier. We moved onboard and stood at the back of the glass carriage where we would have a good view on the journey up.

  The cable car didn't stop moving as it filled up and the doors closed as we reached the end of the platform and started the slow ascent into the city.

  I yawned widely as I looked out and smiled as Lacey yawned too. "Kinda missing my bed now," I said.

  "Yeah, I think I'll get an early night tonight," she agreed.

  The crowded cable car soon began to feel stuffy but before I could voice my discomfort, cool air was blasted in from vents above us. The journey up was pleasant enough even though it was slow. It frustrated me that they'd removed the train lines but I understood that there was no way for them to maintain an air lock with the trains coming and going.

  Eventually we made it to the hole in The Wall where the cable car platform protruded and followed the rest of the commuters out of the glass carriage and onto the platform.

  We were directed through a huge room which held an air lock door but a sign above it told us that it wasn't in use.

  The crowd headed straight down a long corridor until we reached an elevator bank where two elevators were waiting open. We chose the elevator on the left and waited while it filled up around us before travelling to the one hundred and fiftieth floor where the Walkways were situated.

  As we arrived, the elevator doors opened and the same smooth, feminine voice spoke through a speaker system.

  "Level one fifty, alight here for the Walkways."

  We filed out and moved through the building until we were deposited in a huge glass tube which served as a route between the skyscrapers. The Walkways connected every building in the city on the one hundred and fiftieth floor and were the best way to get around on the upper levels. I had used the ground to get between buildings on a few of my previous visits but I loved the glass Walkways and always used them when I got the chance. Something about them felt like stepping straight into the future and I couldn't get over the thrill of them.

  I led the way through the huge glass tubes to the apartment my dad's company had given him to use.

  We took the exit for the building which was called 'Oasis' and rode the huge elevator up to level one ninety. It was a short walk along red carpeted corridors until we reached their apartment and I knocked on the door.

  There was a slight delay before the door finally opened and my mom frowned out at us in her pyjamas. She was a little shorter than me and her long hair had Reese’s dark blonde colour rather than my own brunette.

  "Kaitlyn?" she asked sleepily. They must not have gotten my text and I glanced at my watch guiltily as I realised it was only seven fifteen.

  "Oh, sorry for waking you. I sent you a message but I guess you didn't get it; we were hoping to shower here. The water's still off at home."

  "Come on in then. Hello Lacey, it's nice to see you." My mom led the way into the large apartment and we followed her inside.

  "This place is nice," Lacey said. "Thank you for letting us come and use your water - I've been dying for a shower."

  "Of course you can. You're welcome here whenever you like. I'm guessing you girls haven't eaten?" Mom moved towards the open-plan kitchen and started getting things out of the cupboards.

  "Well we still don't have any food at home," I reminded her. "Not that I'm saying I would have cooked even if we did."

  My mom laughed as she put a frying pan on the stove. "I need to find out what's going on at the store when I get back. I'd never seen anything like it the other day; empty shelves everywhere I looked. They said it would be sorted by today though so I'll head there when I get home."

  "Why were they out of food?" I asked as I sat down at the breakfast bar.

  "They were saying there was an issue with the delivery vehicles. They gave the impression the drivers had gone on strike but it seemed like there was something else going on." Mom shrugged and I nodded vaguely.

  "You can shower first Lacey," I said as I pointed towards the last door leading out of the living area. There were three other doors which all led to bedrooms along the left side of the room while the rest of the space held a dining table and a curving couch.

  "You're the best!" She planted a kiss on my cheek before running for the bathroom. I laughed as she went and my mom smiled at the two of us.

  "You two are so funny. Did you come all this way at the crack of dawn just so you could have a shower?"

  "No, we wanted to come and check out a mall that Lacey heard about. The shower is just a bonus," I admitted.

  "Did Lincoln come back home in the end?" Mom asked, keeping her eyes on the pan.

  "Yeah. And before you ask, he isn't mad at me after all."

  Mom looked up at me happily. "Didn't I say-"

  "Yeah I know. A lot of worrying for nothing. He never even knew it was me who called the police," I sighed. I had wasted a lot of time worrying about him over the years, thinking I'd done the wrong thing but not knowing what else I could have done either. I wished I'd just found a way to contact him sooner. I could have saved myself a lot of heartache.

  "Well at least now you can move on from it. I hated the way it haunted you-"

  "I wasn't haunted," I complained.

  "You know what I mean. I'm just glad that it's finally been put to bed. How is he anyway? I bet he's changed a lot."

  "Yeah, Reese actually invited him in to have pizza with us last night."

  "And?" Mom asked curiously as she threw more ingredients into the pan.

  "He's a Marine now. And Jason was crazy impressed with his rank so he must be doing well at it."

  "Wow. I'm so pleased that he found something like that. He deserves to have something good in his life that's just his. After everything his father did..." She shook her head irritably before continuing. "I'd like to catch up with him while he's in town. I hope he stops by again."

  "He was asking after you and Dad,
I'm sure he'll pop in if he can."

  Neither of us suggested going over to call on him. Our family hadn't been welcome at his house since that day six years ago and his mother never so much as looked at us until recently. I'd run into his dad out on the street one day and he'd spat on the ground at my feet before turning his back on me and returning to his house. After he died, Mom had found Diane crying in the back yard one day and had gone over to console her. That's how we'd found out about Lincoln coming home. None of us had seen or spoken to her since but we wondered if she might become more friendly now that Nathaniel’s shadow wasn't cast over her anymore.

  "That was heaven," Lacey said happily as she returned to the room. Her hair was wrapped in a towel but she'd gotten dressed again.

  "Do I have time before breakfast is ready?" I asked as I started to move towards the bathroom.

  "If you hurry," Mom said.

  I made it into the bathroom just as I heard Mom and Lacey start making small talk about school. I turned the shower on and smiled at the sound of the running water as I quickly stripped off and stepped under the hot flow.

  After showering for way longer than was necessary, I quickly dressed again and redid my makeup, squinting in the steamy mirror to apply it.

  By the time I returned to the front room, my dad was up and the three of them were eating breakfast at the dining table. Dad had my dark hair but Reese had gotten his muscular build. He was a big man, and his physical job had kept him strong and fit enough to still beat me and Reese at most sports. I hurried to join them before my food went cold and enjoyed the taste of my mom's cooking for the first time in four days.

  "So you girls are off to the mall then?" Dad asked with as much interest as he could fake for a shopping trip. His plate was piled twice as high as mine but he was at least twice as big so I didn't complain. He was sat at the head of the table so that he didn't knock anyone with his elbows while he devoured his meal.